Asphalt Meadows

Your kiss was a lonely prayer
When you slipped it into my mouth
I closed my eyes and held it in
And then I exhaled it out
The glow of the downtown lights
Casting shadows across your face
As if all the buildings knew
I could only know half of you

I was a snake under your flowers
I just wanted to disappear
Into the understory of your beauty
Never to reappear
But there’s a name writ on your cast
Above the bruised and broken bones
That tells everybody that you meet
To whom the damage is owed

We rode a wave of white noise
Beneath the city sleeping
I saw the train doors closing
I felt your sorrow deepen
Here in the asphalt meadows
There’s only one thing that grows
Finding the light through the concrete
Getting trampled under our feet

You said all your bridges and roads
They all lead to an airport
Planes drifting off into the sky
Always depart but never seem to arrive
And there in the early hour
Lying naked in your unmade bed
I was thinking of how to tell you
What my ticket read

Your kiss was a lonely prayer
A single candle slowly burning down
But the light, your light was beautiful
Within its here and now